THE CONCHO PADRE POSTLest I forget in the hustle and bustle of weekend parish life:
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL OUR MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS! GOD BLESS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU. MAY YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY, SURROUNDED BY YOUR FAMILIES WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THOSE MOMS WHO ARE SERVING ON ACTIVE DUTY IN THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES!
The Concho Padre
On May 9 President Barack Obama affirmed his support for same-sex marriage. Not surprisingly, Catholic leadership has rejected the president’s views.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York and President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated “President Obama’s words are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage. We cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society. The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better. I pray for the president every day, and will continue to pray that he and his administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. May we all work to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.”
The Concho Padre
Pope Benedict XVI has signed decrees of heroic virtue for 2 Americans, thereby advancing them on the road to possible sainthood.
The Servant of God Frederic Baraga, who was the first Bishop of Marquetts. The Slovenian came to the US in 1830 as a missionary to Native Americans. He was known as the “snowshoe priest” and became the area’s first bishop in 1853. He died in 1868.
The Servant of God Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich was born in 1901 and died in 1927. She was a member of the Sisters of Charity so Saint Elizabeth in New Jersey. In her teachings, writings and conferences she always stressed the call to holiness for people in all walks of life.
The two new “Venerables” will require two documented and proven miracles through their intercession before advancing to the next level of “Blessed.”
The Concho Padre
Georgetown University has announced that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has been invited to give an address at the school’s commencement weekend. She will address the Public Policy Institute on May 18.
Shame on you, Georgetown and the Jesuits, for this slap in the face to your Catholic faith and tradition, and to all the Catholics in our country who have looked up to Georgetown as our premier Catholic institution of higher learning.
Catholic parents should seriously consider not sending their children to Georgetown if they are concerned for their children’s faith and their ethical and moral upbringing.
The Concho Padre
It’s raining in San Angelo and its environs. Thank you, Lord, for this much-needed gift.
The Concho Padre
Vice-president Joe Biden, ostensibly the highest-ranking Catholic in the government, said today onMeet the Press that he is comfortable with same-sex marriage. At least now we know, Mr. Vice-president. Could this possibly have anything to do with the fact that this is an election year? Anything for a vote!
The Concho Padre
Washington D.C., May 2, 2012 / 12:01 am (CNA).- A federal report on national family growth found that many young adults in the U.S. are postponing marriage and instead choosing “to cohabit with a partner,” despite the fact that doing so increases the likelihood of a later divorce.
“People are marrying for the first time at older ages, and many adults cohabit with a partner before ever marrying,” said a March 2012 National Health Statistics report.
Using data based on the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth, the report analyzed current trends in marriage.
It discovered that in recent years, “women and men married for the first time at older ages than in previous years.”
From 2006 to 2010, the median age for a first marriage was 25.8 for women and 28.3 for men, the report found.
In 1995, women had a 59 percent chance of being married by age 25. In 2006-2010, that probability had dropped to 44 percent.
While the delay in marriage may be partly due to a struggling economy, the report found that premarital cohabitation – or living together in a sexual relationship without being married – has also contributed to the phenomenon.
The percentage of currently cohabiting women rose from 3 percent in 1982 to 11 percent in 2006-2010, said the report.
It found that many couples are now entering into cohabiting relationships at about the same point as couples entered into marriages in the past.
“Among women, 68% of unions formed in 1997–2001 began as a cohabitation rather than as a marriage,” it added.
This is true despite the fact that studies show cohabitation to be a significant risk factor for divorce.
“It has been well documented that women and men who cohabit with their future spouse before first marriage are more likely to divorce than those who do not cohabit,” the report explained.
It pointed to statistics showing that women who cohabit with their first husband – regardless of whether they were already engaged when they moved in together – have a lower chance of having their marriage last 20 years than women who did not cohabit first.
In general, first marriages in 2006-2010 had a slightly more than 50 percent chance of surviving for 20 years, the report said.
“These levels are virtually identical to estimates based on vital statistics from the early 1970s,” it observed.
The National Center for Health Statistics also found that couples are increasingly likely to have children while they are cohabiting instead of waiting until they are married.
While the average age at first birth has not changed since 2002, first births to cohabiting women increased by 83 percent from 2002 to 2006-2010, it said.
Acknowledging that marriage has “changed dramatically” in recent decades, the report expressed hope that its findings will lead to studies that “yield new insights into marriage and cohabitation and their effect on adults and children in the United States.”
Catholic News Agency
This July, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church will decide whether to approve “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant,” a rite for the blessing of homosexual relationships.
If the proposed rite is approved, the presider will ask each person, “N., do you freely and unreservedly offer yourself to N.?” and “Will you live together in faithfulness and holiness of life as long as you both shall live?”
After indicating their assent to the presider’s questions, each person will say, “In the name of God, I, N., give myself to you, N. I will support and care for you by the grace of God: enduring all things, bearing all things. I will hold and cherish you in the love of Christ: in times of plenty, in times of want. I will honor and keep you with the Spirit’s help: forsaking all others, as long as we both shall live. This is my solemn vow.”
Following an exchange of rings, the presider will say, “Inasmuch as N. and N. have exchanged vows of love and fidelity in the presence of God and the Church, I now pronounce that they are bound to one another in a holy covenant, as long as they both shall live.”
To help prepare the way for the rite, the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of the Episcopal Church has prepared a report dismissing the traditional interpretation of biblical passages that describe homosexual acts as sinful.
In discussing Romans 1:26-27–in which St. Paul states that “women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error”–the commission’s report comments:
This chapter, especially verses 26-27, has been used to support the Church’s reluctance to embrace the loving faithfulness of same-gender couples and continues to influence conversation in Christian communities. In interpreting this Pauline passage, it is difficult to know precisely what Paul meant by “unnatural” in those verses and to whom he was addressing these concerns.
Catholic World News
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